Boston Preservation Alliance Hearts Growth

The 36-year-old non-profit, which held its spring benefit at the Liberty Hotel (the historic Charles Street jail that it helped to save and revive) last week, works to protect the city’s architecture, historic parks and encourage the growth underway around the waterfront, downtown, on Beacon Hill, in Jamaica Plain and elsewhere, says Board chairman Leigh Freudenheim. In his day job, he’s a broker and executive managing director of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Last year, he brokered a real BPA type deal: Converse signed up for 230k SF at historic Lovejoy Wharf, which Related Beal is renovating. 

A shout out to Alliance prez Susan Park, a founder of the group and an officer for 30 years. She’s been instrumental in preserving and rejuvenating the Theater District, the Esplanade, and day lighting the Muddy River. (A lot of light turns it from a muddy river into a clay river.) She and the Alliance played a role in helping Millennium Partners design the restoration, new construction, and obtain federal historic tax credits needed to restore the former Filene’s building. It's part of the $600M Millennium Tower complex (under construction) that’s key to the revival of Downtown Crossing. "Some of the most exciting places are where old and new come together," says executive director Greg Galer.

We ran into William Rawn Associates’ principal of the same name. His firm is working on the 300k SF renovation of a portion of the historic Boston Public Library. Phase 1 will be completed in December, with Phase 2 to follow. Rawn designed the nearly $100M building for Berklee College of Music; it’s first ground-up construction and a stunning game-changer for the Fenway neighborhood.